Dumb pouch sheath question

C

CDH

Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
283
I have basically finished (still needs to be sharpened) my next (4th) knife...my first hunter. I plan to try my first sheath. I have read a number of tutorials on basic pouch sheaths, but they all give me the willies. I will be hiking aorund the mountains of New Mexico in about 3 weeks with this on my hip.

Is a pouch sheath secure enough to not have it fall out sometime when I am crawling over rocks and such?

Here's the knife, for what it is worth. O1 and mesquite...my first home HT also. I built this as a light hunter especially for hard hunts like I am about to take. I'd hate to lose it with a bad sheath design.

IMG_0636_edited.jpg


More pics:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/cdhcmh/Knives/IMG_0642_edited.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/cdhcmh/Knives/IMG_0643_edited.jpg

What do you think? Pouch sheath or try some other design?
 
I had the same reserve, but now have hunted and packed game with 'pouch' sheaths,,,,,and will not carry another snap sheath, period.

To build your confidence in your first sheath, give it a little more depth, but the truth is, even riding horses, every action/motion seats the knife better.

Reviewing about every thing you can about pouch sheaths , most will remind you not to store your knife in the sheath, understanding that, I would like to find a line on some handy boxes and even ship (eventually) knives unsheathed.

Just .02 cents worth here, but I have found that stitching a little more 'snug' into the shape and working it out as your form fitting it (wet) gives you a little more control over the effect. When the sheath is on your hip, it seems easer to pull the blade then while testing it two-handed, to me.

BTW: Beautiful knife, a 10 for the design, nice usable shape!
 
The typical Scandinavian sheath covers about two thirds of the handle and it has a belt strap that can swivel. Then of course it's carefully fitted to the knife. Never had a problem !
 
A pouch sheath will hold as well if not better than other types if it it done correctly. The trick is in the cam in the sheath that grips the knife at about the place the forefinger would be on the knife handle( behind the guard if there is a gaurd). Also wet forming the leather will make a tight fit. You want the sheath to be so tite it is hard to get it out. Over time the sheath will relax and it will get easier. The pouch sheath will protect the knife more than other sheaths will as it covers more of the knife.

Good luck William Crump
 
Thanks! I feel a little better about the basic sheath design...so I know if it pops out it is probably my workmanship, not a bad choice of design.:foot::D

CVF-The shape really works in my hands, and at 2.8 oz it is a dream to hold. I plan on giving it a good workout this hunting season, and if all works out I'll make a few tweaks (bolt placement jumps out), make a few more, and see if I can sell them. It was a fun but time consuming design to fit up with the partial tang and 2 piece handle...lots of sanding and fitting to get a tight fit without gaps.
 
CDH said:
Is a pouch sheath secure enough to not have it fall out sometime when I am crawling over rocks and such?
Click to expand...
If you had ever seen a good pouch sheath you would not ask that question. To make a good one you must first examine several good ones, a verbal description or even photos would not be enough information. I invite you to visit my collection, but you are far distant. Perhaps a forum member in TX would help out?
 
I don't like to prick the balloon about the security of pouch sheaths. Some knives offer configurations that assists in their retention, such as guards, finger cut-a-ways and handle swells. Other knives have no such feature and this knife is of the latter type and would not be secure in a pouch sheath unless it had an over the top flap that snapped (fastened) to the sheath body. I rate retention on value--If this knife cost $5 I would say that the retention would be adequate, $50 and you take your chances, over $100 and I would not want a pouch sheath protecting your investment. Even good pouch sheaths on the right type of knife configuration can shed a knife if you fall head over butt. Play safe, it is your knife, why lose it? ---Sandy---
 
Just wet mold it and you won't have any problems. One of the pouch sheaths I made, then wet molded, fits almost too tight. You have to actually "brace" yourself to get ready to apply the amount of force needed to remove the knife from the sheath! That knife is just not coming out of the sheath on it's own accord; I don't care if you're skydiving with that thing....it stays in the sheath!
 
Pouch sheaths can be made to fit just about any fixed blade shape or design. Here are a few examples I have made...

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I'm in TX. Let me know if I can help you out!

Andy
 
That's a fine looking hunter CDH!!!!
Nice point for piercing and enough belly for slicing! The handle is gorgeous!!! I've never used mesquite, didn't know it looked that good!

Troop nailed the sheath problem on the head!
If you make it to fit the knife and soak it with warm water you can mold it to fit the knife real tight. Be sure to wrap the knife with saran wrap first or it will rust. Then slip it in and form the leather to the knife with your hands and once its staying where you want it just set it aside for a couple hours. Then you can carefully take the knife out and unwrap it and wipe it off. After the sheath dries over night you should rub it down with some saddle soap or some wax, I used the soap and then I saturated the inside of the sheath with wd 40 to protect the blade. Nowadays I'd use Rem Oil I think and not so much of it. Some folks dip the whole sheath in melted wax, a mix of bee's wax and paraffin wax.
Oops, I'm rattling on again, aint I. :D
Good luck with the sheath and the trip!!!
 
I have exactly one pouch sheath to copy on a commercial knife. It is a Beretta Loveless hunter. The sheath is a simple folded side pouch with a long tab on top folded back for the belt loop. Simple. <laugh> I was planning on copying it with adjustments for size as needed, as the Loveless style blade is much larger. I have seen some plans for that style on several websites and I think it is within my abilities to finish with the tools and time I have available.

Thanks for the advice!
 
I now make pouch sheaths for almost everything I make, instead of water for molding, use a good tooling leather and wet it with acetone. The leather molds as well as if you had used water, doesn't rust the knife, and the acetone dries out in a half hour. Be sure to use good ventilation and do not do it near any ignition source (petrochemical resistant gloves are a good idea too) Do it before you put varnish or other final wood finish on your knife, and don't try acetone with phenolic spacers or handles as it dissolves plastic. I always run an extra thickness of leather to protect the stitching, but I so far have been able to mold the sheaths well enough that I haven't had to restitch due to cut-through.

I was cut several times by knives that had gotten away from their snap straps when the snaps unsnapped. I used to wear my fixed blade knives for everyday carry for about 10 years, and really grew to appreciate a molded pouch sheath worn high on the belt

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CDH asked if a pouch sheath would give sufficient retentiion on the knife he pictured. I do not believe that it will if he is going to be slipping and falling in the woods. The fact that the sheath is a good fit does not mean that it has good retention features. The configuration of the knife would have a great deal to do with that function.
 
I would have to disagree, if the sheath comes up at least 1/3 of the handle and is molded to the shape of the handle, retention will not be a problem. Actually he might have to make a relief notch in the sheath side to get enough flex to draw it!

-Page
 
Pouch sheaths are the choice of folks who don't want to lose their knives.

The problem with the OP's knife is that it doesn't have a lanyard tube. To do a good job retaining the knife, the knife needs to sit quite deep into the pouch. Without a lanyard to aid in pulling the knife out, that part might be a little aggravating, but it could easily be fixed by adding a lanyard tube.

Andy
 
Swivelknife said:
CDH asked if a pouch sheath would give sufficient retentiion on the knife he pictured. I do not believe that it will if he is going to be slipping and falling in the woods. The fact that the sheath is a good fit does not mean that it has good retention features. The configuration of the knife would have a great deal to do with that function.
Click to expand...

The knife in the picture, IMO has no other choice then to be in a pouch sheath, as it would hold much better then with a snap at the narrow part of the handle or around the handle-gaurd.

You make a good point, as I have seen the guy your talking about, slipping and falling in the woods. ;) Tenex Snaps are by far the best choice if your going to use a snap in heavy cover, they take an extra trick to open, regular snaps will pop at the first twig that gets under it. Brush hinting, driving (pressuring) deer for standers is maybe the best situation there is for loosing a knife, pounding brush for upland birds another, pushing through thickets could strip any knife from it's sheath, thats another reason why I went to pouch sheaths.

It would be a funny to watch test, to see if someone could hip-wrestle there knife from it's sheath, my bet would be on the pouch sheath every time.
 
To Swivelknife:

Hey, Sandy! How the heck are you? Hope you're doing well Mr. Morrissey.

How many sheaths have you fit to knives over the last 60-odd years that would lead you to make this assessment about this particular knife? Maybe 10,000 or so? ;)
 
Andrew Colglazier said:
The problem with the OP's knife is that it doesn't have a lanyard tube.
Click to expand...

I'm shaking my head right now...:D

Throughout the 4+ weeks I worked on this knife (and during much of the time when I should have been working) I considered the pros and cons of a lanyard hole. I even posted here for advice on such. In the end I left it off for 2 reasons:

1: Pure aesthetics. With the bolt location I felt it would clutter and exaggerate other errors on bolt placement already too late to be fixed.
2: Stability. With no tang metal to anchor in, the handle wood would have to support it fully. Mesquite is hard but somewhat brittle, and the tube would have to be pretty close to the edge. I feared chipping problems.

Maybe that was mistake #3 in the final design. I am pretty uneasy about adding it now with the handle formed and curved...getting it to sit on the drill press table without wobbling worries me.

In general I think that with a deep pouch sheath I'll be okay, but that means covering 1/2-2/3 of the handle. That seems deeeep to me!;)
 
1/3 of the handle should be sufficient. You have a wonderful taper outwards toward the blade at the base. If the leather is molded to that you should have as much retention as you could want.
Make a sheath that covers 1/3 of the handle and test the hell out of it, if it does what you want great, if not you have learned something, and lost only the time spent making the sheath. We all can argue back and forth over the merits/drawbacks of each design, you can take as much or as little of our advice as seems appropriate to your situation, but in the end it is your knife on your belt, not mine or anyone else's (unless you sell one to one of us :) )Take any and all advice that you feel would work and try things for yourself then test the snot out of it! If you want to, provide feedback when you are done as to what you did and how it worked, then we can all benefit. I only know what has worked for me, and what other folks tell me worked for them, and what I have read worked or didn't. Everyone's opinion is guided by their experience, their knowledge base, and the advice of those that they see as experts.

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Kind of an interesting thread here. Opinions are like you-know-what's, everybody has one, but experiance and craftmanship are gained by time and trial. A suggestion would be to heed swivelknife (aka Sandy Morrissey) who, like Fitzo said, has probably made over 10,000 or so sheaths. On this style of knife with it's intended use, a butterfly pouch sheath might well be the answer. This sheath looks like a pouch at the top, but forms around the blade and is stitched on the edge and part way up the spine. You can thin the welt at the blade tip which will effectively lock the knife in the sheath with plenty of handle out for ease of draw. Here's an example.
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